CHURUMURI POLL: Who will be Karnataka CM?

The BJP central leadership’s stern instruction to B.S. Yediyurappa to resign immediately at least removes one possibility from the equation: that the party bosses might sit on the fence endlessly while a rebellion built up in the State leading to more embarrassment for the party ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament.

But it also opens up the other part of the equation: who after Yediyurappa?

Having dislodged a Lingayat chief minister, should the replacement be a Lingayat like a Jagadish Shettar, to assuage hurt feelings? Is it time for a Vokkaliga, like D.V. Sadananda Gowda or Shobha Karandlaje, to blunt the JDS edge? Or, since Brahmins were supposed to have backed the BJP in the elections, should the high command look at the likes of perennial frontrunner Ananth Kumar, or V.S. Acharya or even Suresh Kumar?

Who do you think stands the best chance of becoming the second BJP chief minister in the South?

10 Responses to “CHURUMURI POLL: Who will be Karnataka CM?”

Suresh Kumar is the most obvious choice by any yard stick but sadly the BJP lead by a ‘petty trader’ President has lost all moral gounds and proven to be caste-biased. More recently, it has been highly corrupt on its own!

Is there no internal democracy in the BJP sans caste? couldnt that decide a NEW CM. I am in observance of the issue ” New CM in consultation/favourable/henchmen/castemen/Girl friend favourable to yeddi ….. ! An Italians decision may be better off , Jai Bharath – Raja Madhukar G Appaji

I don’t see ‘secular’ India as the problem. It’s more a problem of ‘political’ India in which caste based vote banks matter a lot.

Unfortunately Brahmins constitute miniscule percentage of the population that matters in elections and hence even if there are good folks they don’t seem to find the favour.

However history shows this trend indeed was bucked in the past as well as in the present too. It has happened in two scenarios.

1. When the leader is a tall one whose charisma cuts across the caste divide there by making him/her a true mass leader who can pull in the votes. Eg. Jawaharalal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Ramakrishna Hegde, Jayalalitha.

2. When a political formation has a great sway on the population of the region/nation. In such cases it appears the people overlook the caste of a local leader. Thus in the times Indira or Nehru, many of the Congress ruled states (especially in cow belt) had CMs belonging to Brahmin caste. eg. Shuklas, Tiwaris, Mishras from UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh. Ofcourse it also helped that Brahmins do have a sizeable presence in this belt especially in UP.

Infact that’s the case in Bengal and Kerala too where Namboodiripad and Bhattacharya are the examples. There too the hold of communism seem to have blurred the caste identity.

Also one can note that in the early decades after independence, the number of Brahmin CMS was more and now it’s a diminishing trend. May be the earlier generations didin’t bother too much about their leaders’ caste? Food for thought for those who seem to think caste for all purposes is over.

It might not matter much as to who is the next chief minister as he or she would want to play it safe and not make sweeping changes. One good thing that might come of this change is a relative less corrupt government which actually tries to govern.